Rosie O’Donnell, Tatum O’Neal Dating? Pair Are ‘Just Friends’

Rumors that Rosie O’Donnell and Tatum O’Neal are in “love” and having been dating for two months have instantly been refuted by sources close to the comedienne.

After the Daily Mail exclusively reported that the new couple were completely besotted with each other, a source close to Rosie O’Donnell told TMZ that they are not a couple.

Instead, the source for TMZ insisted that O’Donnell and the Oscar-winning actress have been friends for years. They then explained that the pair originally became friends after meeting in Chicago several years ago when they were both working on programs for the station OWN.

These rumors have emerged after Tatum recently revealed that she was now “dating mostly women,” while Rosie O’Donnell split up with her wife, Michelle Rounds, back in November.

The Daily Mail alleged earlier on Wednesday that the couple had been dating for several weeks, while they even insisted that the pair were “very much in love,” too.

They went on to add that O’Neal and O’Donnell had been trying to keep their romance as quiet as possible, with the duo splitting between their time between O’Neal’s homes in New York and California, and O’Donnell’s home in Nyack, an small village in upstate New York.

An insider explained to the Daily Mail, “Tatum has spent some time at Rosie’s compound over the past month. She went back to LA but will fly east again in the next few days.”

O’Neal, who became the youngest recipient of an Academy Award after she nabbed the Best Supporting Actress gong for her performance in Paper Moon at the age of 10 back in 1974, and O’Donnell attended the musical Hamilton on Broadway in early August before they were then spotted sharing food together at New York’s Da Silvano.

Tatum was previously married to tennis champion John McEnroe for eight-years. But back in May, she explained to People magazine that she had recently found herself attracted to women, explaining, “Women are the most amazing creatures on earth.”

Tatum then added further details on these feelings during a piece that she wrote for Harper’s Bazaar, explaining, “They’re gentle and also more intelligent than the men I’ve met recently. I don’t have a steady right now, but I look forward to it. In the physical sense, I’m not attracted to men right now.” O’Neal insisted that she hasn’t dated a man now for over 30 months.

[Images via Neilson Barnard / Getty Images & Kevin Winter / Getty Images]